It is being widely speculated that it was on the ask of Gautam Gambhir that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) decided to retain Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
On Sunday all franchises announced their lists of retained and released players. Earlier, there were reports that KKR had wanted to release both Russell and Narine, owing to their disappointing performances in recent seasons and also their high price.
Russell has a contract of INR 12 crore with KKR and Narine of INR 6 crore. They both had disappointing IPL 2023 seasons: Russell scored only 227 runs with no half-century and picked 7 wickets, while Narine picked 11 wickets.
Gautam Gambhir has been quite pivotal in the retention of Russell and Narine: Tom Moody
Former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH )coach Tom Moody strongly feels that it was Gautam Gambhir, the new mentor of KKR, who would have asked the KKR management to retain both Russell and Narine.
Both the West Indians have been long-time players of KKR and have won them many games. Both also bring rare, sought-after qualities – a hard-hitting pace-bowling all-rounder and a mystery spinner – to the table which would be difficult to get in the IPL 2024 auction, and certainly not at their prices.
“They both have been phenomenal cricketers for KKR. I feel that Gambhir has been quite pivotal in the retention of Russell and Narine. Gambhir understands them, he’s played with them, he’s captained them and he’ll be able to get the best out of them,” Tom Moody said on ESPNcricinfo.
“I think we’ll see a different outcome in 2024 with regards to what Russell brings to the table. The only hesitation I have is not skill. It’s whether he can hold together physically because we’ve seen him break down on a couple of occasions over recent years and it’s been quite alarming. His bowling has been pretty limited as well, and they haven’t had the access to his full quota of overs,” Moody added.
Gautam Gambhir joined KKR after six years, leaving Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Gambhir captained both Russell and Narine, and the KKR management would bank on their former skipper to bring the best out of their two star players.
